queen of the game
by bottledlogic
Summary: Natasha goes on a quest to win a zoo of stuffed animals. It's not going as well as she expects.


**queen of the game**

* * *

In all honesty, it started out as a simple, straightforward tour around South East Asia; what Maria had preferred to call an introduction for Wanda to international relations and the different cultures of countries that weren't America or Sokovia, and what Wilson had slyly (and jealously) termed a vacation.

So somehow, they end up in the middle of an amusement park in the heat and humidity of Hong Kong, and somehow, Natasha's managed to find herself on the wrong side of a simple carnival game.

"Dammit!"

Her hissed curse sizzles through the warm air, and Maria leans forward to make a show of examining the pyramid of cans less than three feet away.

"No, that's definitely still standing," she drawls, glancing sideways to see Wanda with a curious expression on her face.

"No shit, Hill. I threw that beanbag three times," Natasha huffs, starting to walk away and attack another stand.

Wanda looks thoughtfully at the six cans in front of them. "Let me have a go."

"No magic," Nat says, resigned to handing over another token, taking back and passing her the cursed beanbag.

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" The younger woman looks mildly affronted.

"A witch who's entirely capable of winning that damn stuffed turtle."

Maria slides her sunglasses back down on her face, not bothering to hide her amusement. "Ladies, this is not a competition."

"How about we make it one? We can see who wins the most points," Wanda says and eyes the pyramid, mentally calculating. "Ten points for every big stuffed animal, five for the medium, three for the small, none for the other prizes, and minus two for no wins."

Romanoff stares at her, then bares a vicious grin. "You're on."

Wanda hefts the beanbag, smoothly draws her arm back and launches it at the cans. A dull _thunk_ later, and six cans topple in harmony. Natasha whirls on her, suspiciously looking for any tinges of red swirling around her fingers.

"No magic," Wanda snaps at her, before changing her expression instantly, shooting a beatific beam at the slightly disgruntled college kid manning the stand and accepting the stuffed turtle approximately the size of a small suitcase. "Ten," she says, pointing at herself.

Natasha scowls, gesturing towards the next game – a giant statue of an elephant and a basket of plastic bananas at its feet. "Next."

The overly enthusiastic operator beckons them, and she strides over – Wanda matching her step for step, and Maria slightly behind them. Sliding into the small queue, she narrows her eyes at the elephant, ten feet tall and looming over them.

"This is far too literal," she comments sideways to Maria. "We throw the bananas into its mouth, and it comes out the other end."

"Don't knock it, Romanoff," Maria warns, mock gravely. "You're twelve points down, and those stuffed elephants are fucking cute."

Maria catches the string of curses aimed at her in Russian (no doubt for Wanda's additional benefit) and smirks. "Wanda, you should probably go first this time; let Natasha see how it's done," she says, absently tucking a stray tendril of hair back into her braid. _God, the heat. No wonder Nat's fucking lost it._

Wanda nods and moves to the front of the line, stooping to pick up the first piece of plastic fruit.

"Five bananas?"

The operator gives her a toothy and encouraging smile. "Five bananas," she confirms.

She glances back at her two travelling companions, and fixes Natasha with a challenging look.

 _Watch how it's done._

In the space of a breath, she aims the banana into the mouth and watches it follow its planned trajectory. The first one lands neatly in the open mouth, and without looking back at Natasha or Maria, she reaches for the next one. Four throws later, she finally turns around with the medium-sized stuffed elephant happily nested in her arms.

Arching an eyebrow, she wordlessly indicates to the Black Widow. _Your turn_.

Natasha gracefully lopes forward, testing the weight of the plastic in her hand. Five for five, all simultaneously in the air, and the fluidity of her movements stuns the gaping crowd in the line. Maria simply rolls her eyes at the spectacle and as Nat claims her prize.

"Too easy," she says smugly.

"You're still only on eight points," Wanda counters, leading them towards the balloon darts. She sets down her prizes next to the wide-eyed wonderment of a tiny girl hidden behind her mother's legs, and spares her a quick smile. She hands over a token and passes the handful of darts to the redhead.

"You first."

Natasha accepts the darts before pausing and holding them out to Maria. "Want a go?"

Maria shakes her head. "You kids have fun," she says lazily. "And rules are rules, Romanoff."

"Just offering," Natasha mutters as she prepares to throw.

The first dart bounces off the surface of the balloon, and Natasha frowns. Inspecting the second dart, she grits her teeth, running the pad of her thumb over the less-than-sharp tip. She aims again, throws, watching again as it bounces off. With a huff of frustration, she picks up the last two, and in quick succession, lobs them at the balloon with considerably more force.

The look on the worker's face is slightly fearful as he gives her the small stuffed dragon. Wanda steps forward, taking the same darts, and exhaling, she lets all of them fly within seconds of each other, all of them finding their mark.

"Not bad," Maria remarks, eyeing the disappearing red wisps. "Although, you might want to work on hiding the magic a bit better. I'm not in the mood to clean up after another incident."

"Yeah, what happened to no magic?" Nat accuses.

Wanda shrugs carelessly. "I wanted the dragon. You can take off ten points; I'm still going to win."

"Fifteen," Natasha says, pointing at Wanda before herself. "Thirteen, and catching up."

"We have only done three. There are many more chances and many more animals."

Nat nods grudgingly. "At least we have the jet."

"You know, when I asked to borrow the jet, I don't think 'transport of carnival stuffed animals' came into it at all," Maria says dryly.

"No, really? And here I thought they made a checkbox specifically for that," Natasha's voice dripping sarcasm.

Maria ignores her. "Pick the next one, Romanoff. We don't have all day."

And at the end of the afternoon – a stuffed turtle, two elephants, two dragons, one seal, two giraffes, and three cats later (Natasha having on insisted doing the ring toss again for perfection's sake) – Maria refuses to help them carry any of their prizes back through the bustling city.

("You used to be an international spy. I don't give a damn that you look like you just walked out of a Toys 'R' Us.")

It comes as no surprise, when a week later she walks into the new Avengers lounge room with Rogers right behind her gesturing about a new strategy, she finds the complete collection of stuffed animals neatly lined in a row on a mantle; Natasha's on one side, and Wanda's larger set on the other.

At his confused expression, she quirks the corner of her mouth.

"I guess Romanoff didn't tell you that she's now added _carnival games_ to the training room."

* * *

...

 _this place exists - lai yuen amusement park - though it's only temporary._

 _[also, the stuffed animals may or may not correspond to the correct game. it's been a while since i was there.]_


End file.
